Gunmen kill 22 in village in Dogo Dawa in Kaduna state

The Nigerian army has said an armed assault on a mosque in which 21 people died at the weekend was the result of a criminal feud and not sectarian violence. The attack on Sunday was the bloodiest in a day of violence that also saw the restive northeastern city of Maiduguri rocked by a roadside blast and two separate gun attacks that killed at least four people including a local chief, according to residents and the military.

In a more Related News: Armed bandits descended on a village in northern Nigeria on Sunday, killing 22 people, most of them shot dead as they were leaving prayers at a mosque, the state police commissioner said.

The attack happened in a remote village called Dogo Dawa in Kaduna state, commissioner Olufemi Adenaike told a news conference. He added that two of the robbers had also been killed.

An investigation had revealed it was a revenge attack by the armed gang because four of its members had been arrested by vigilantes in the village and taken to the police.

"Following the arrest, some unidentified armed gang in Kuyello village, mobilised in large numbers and stormed the village in the early hours of Sunday in a bid to rescue the four persons arrested," he said.

"The gang descended on innocent members of the village, killing a total of 22 persons."

Most of the victims were killed as they left the village mosque, although a number were also killed in their homes, he said. He added that two of the gang members had been killed by the vigilantes in revenge.